Industrial robots are used for many tasks. Common uses for industrial robots include operations for painting, welding and placing components. A robot carrying out a welding operation may for example be a general purpose industrial robot with a welding tool, such as an arc welding tool, mounted on the end of the robot arm. Generally such a tool is mounted on a robot arm using some form of swivel joint. The robot and/or robot arm is equipped with cables to communicate control signals from the control unit of the robot to the tooling attached to the robot arm, and the cables are arranged across the swivel joint. The communication requirement between a robot control unit and a tool may vary. Communications may include control signals for the tool and/or collection of data from the tool as well as data from actuators and/or sensors arranged on or near the tool. The requirements for the swivel joint may also be extensive in order to allow for rotation through 360° and also maintain reliable functioning in difficult or hostile industrial environments.
However the cabling to the tool on the end of the robot arm is subject to stress due to the repeated movements of the arm under production cycles, leading to maintenance and replacement interventions since the cables are subject to continuous wear and tear. Cables may also be damaged during industrial operations such as welding.